It’s 7am on a blustery December day and Petey the Wondermutt has a very important 8am appointment for a jaunt in the woods. I can hear the wind howling outside, so I pick up my phone to check the weather. Windchill of -4 degrees!? Guess we’re stuck inside.

Last night we had seen an increase in frequency, intensity, and duration of barking when my husband (hereby known as Big Man) came home from work. I knew that meant Petey could use some time tracking scents, moving his body, investigating his surroundings, and ideally spending some time digging. An off-leash romp in the woods, a meandering walk in the cemetery on a long line, or an adventure to a nature preserve would be ideal options for engaging in most of these behaviors (I’m not going to make the cemetery grounds crew mad at me by letting him dig a hole!). But with the sudden drop in temperature, those options were off the table.